


Burning Through the Bloodline

by boniface (midwinter_day)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: (also known as being dicks), 1970s, Canon Compliant, Coming of Age, Gen, Hogwarts Seventh Year, Pre-Canon, Sisters, Slytherins Being Slytherins, The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, Wizarding Culture (Harry Potter), Wizarding Politics (Harry Potter), also welcome to the, and the adults, except all the teens are terrible
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:00:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23557207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midwinter_day/pseuds/boniface
Summary: It means something to be Black. At least, that's what Andromeda was always told. But by her seventh year at Hogwarts, with unrest in her family and in wizarding Britain and a boy she can't help caring for, she's learned that maybe being a Black doesn't mean what she always believed. Even if it does, does she still want to be one?
Relationships: Andromeda Black Tonks/Ted Tonks
Comments: 7
Kudos: 29
Collections: Fic Journal of the Plague Year





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The title is stolen from _Landscape (Demo)_ by Florence + the Machine because I'm basic. It was one of the first songs on my writing playlist for this fic.

* * *

**Prologue**

The hundreds of curious, enraptured eyes made Andromeda's stomach twist uncomfortably. They were not all on her, in particular, but on all of the first years awaiting their sorting. They passed by her as quickly as they landed on her, surely wondering which one of them would be the first of the first years joining their house. The strawberry blonde-haired girl beside her was practically quaking and had been since the stern-looking Professor McGonagall had greeted them in the little room off of the Entrance Hall. Andromeda had heard her whispering to the fair-haired boy beside her about how desperately she wanted to go to Gryffindor, but she didn't seem very brave at all.

But Andromeda didn't have to worry. She was a Black and she knew exactly where she was going. Bella had said her own sorting had only taken a moment. "And it barely even hurt. Just a pinch." She added with one of her terrible grins, pinching an arm and drawing a yelp from Andromeda. Bellatrix was grinning at her now, from the Slytherin table at the far end of the hall. She had saved an empty seat beside her for Andromeda.

Yes, yes, she was going to Slytherin.

It wouldn't be long now, as the first student "Aaron, Janet," a girl far down the line from Andromeda, was called forward to the stool and the Hat dropped onto her head. A moment later, the Hat's seam of a mouth opened and shouted "Gryffindor!" The table farthest from the doors began roaring excitedly as Janet hurried toward them. At the Slytherin table, some students, including Bellatrix, were jeering.

This was repeated when the next girl also went quickly to Gryffindor. "Appledoorn, Desmond" was the first Hufflepuff. "Ashe, Eric" became the first Slytherin, who the others greeted with their own round of shouts and applause. A few Gryffindors returned the Slytherins' couple rounds of jeers.

Two more Gryffindors and another Hufflepuff were sorted before the quivering girl beside Andromeda, "Belby, Barbara," was called, and she walked forward quickly on shaky legs. The boy who had been on the other side of Barbara shuffled down the line toward Andromeda. He was short, fair-haired, and friendly-looking. He had a collared shirt poking out from under his robes and blue plimsolls on his feet. He was a Muggle-born, Andromeda realized with alarm as he smiled trepidly at her. She snapped her head around toward the stool where Barbara sat. The Hat was taking its time with her, stuck on that stool while everyone stared at her. Andromeda knew her turn was close. Why on earth could it be taking so long?

At the Slytherin table, a bespectacled, dishwater blonde girl was whispering behind one hand to Bellatrix and pointing at Barbara Belby with her other. Bella laughed at whatever she was saying. Then she caught Andromeda looking at her and smirked and waved. Andromeda tried to smile at her.

Finally, finally, the Hat shouted "Ravenclaw!" and after such a wait and being the first Ravenclaw, Barbara received a riotous cheer, with even some from the other tables joining in. Barbara was smiling shyly as she walked to the Ravenclaw table. She'd wanted Gryffindor. Andromeda felt a bit anxious at that thought.

Once it quieted down, Professor McGonagall called "Black, Andromeda." Andromeda came forward. The Hat slipped over her eyes, hiding the thousand burning gazes from view.

 _'Hello, well, what do we have here? Another Miss Black, I see?'_ said a little voice in her ear. ' _Hmmm...but you're not much like your sister, are you? Not quite as clever. Very determined, yes, but certainly not as ambitious—_ _Where should I put you?'_

'Slytherin,' She thought indignantly. 'I _am_ a Black."

 _'Hmm, but don't you want to be different? To stand out?'_ The Hat's little voice hissed.

'No!'

_'Well, that's not very Slytherin of you, is it?'_

'My sister has already saved me a seat.'

 _'Very loyal...maybe Hufflepuff?'_ the small voice said. Andromeda's heart hammered in her chest. Maybe she wasn't as clever as Bella but she wasn't stupid. _'Yes, there's great kindness buried in here somewhere and a willingness to work hard.'_

'Who says a Slytherin can't be kind?' Andromeda thought.

 _'Who says a Black can't be in Hufflepuff?'_ The tiny voice almost sounded amused, and Andromeda furrowed her brow under the Hat's brim, her heart still beating very fast.

'I do and I'm a Black. You're just a stupid Hat.'

 _'I did say you were determined. I suppose it will be,'_ said the Hat, "Slytherin!" It took Andromeda a moment to realize that the last word was not just in her mind. The Hat was off her head, and the Slytherins were again cheering, Bella's voice loudest among them. Andromeda bounded off the stool toward them, as fast as she could.

"You had me scared for a moment, Drommy," Bella teased, with one of her terrible grins as Andromeda sat down beside her. Andromeda did not say anything. Her heart was still beating far too loudly, her breathing was too fast, but she forced herself to smile.

The next few minutes were filled with the names of Bella's friends (the ones she had not already met on the train), including the girl with dishwater blonde hair, who was called Rita. This conversation took up most of the rest of the B's and C's, punctuated by five more new Slytherins. Then, there were no more to join them until Moira Goyle and Ramona Greengrass.

"I don't know why they have us watch after the first couple. It's lost all narrative and tension." Rita said, leaning heavily on her arm. "It gets frightfully dull after a while, and I'm hungry."

They were only on the L's. "Longbottom, Francis," was striding happily toward Gryffindor.

"Oh, I don't know," Bellatrix grinned. "It's fun to watch the rest of them squirm," She pointed toward the blond probable-Muggle-born who was still standing in the thinning line of students, biting his lip and shifting foot-to-foot. Andromeda felt a bit bad for him, even if he was a Muggle-born. Is that what _she_ had looked like up there?

The Hat barely touched "Malfoy, Lucius"'s white-blond head before it shouted "Slytherin!" and he sauntered over to join them. His cheers seemed louder than Andromeda's.

M's faded into N's to O's to P's and on and on before the Muggle-born boy, "Tonks, Edward" was called forward. He sat down on the stool quickly and nearly as fast as for Lucius Malfoy, the Hat bellowed "Hufflepuff!"

Edward's face broke out in a grin. He raced off toward his new house.

"I can't imagine why he's so happy," Bella rolled her eyes. "Really? Hufflepuff!"

"Maybe he doesn't know. Poor lamb," Rita said, picking at her acid green nail varnish, completely indifferent.

"You're right. He looks like a bloody Muggle." Bella agreed and turned to Andromeda and whispered, "Hufflepuff is loaded with Muggle-borns and half squibs. They appreciate that 'teach the lot' nonsense. It's a disgrace."

Andromeda looked over two tables to Hufflepuff, where Edward Tonks had joined his new housemates, all grinning together at the front of the table. They couldn't have all been Muggle-borns, too ignorant to know where they'd gotten themselves placed. She imagined herself among them for just a second and felt that twist in her stomach. She quickly turned her attention back to the sorting.

It went on until "Zeller, Enid," became the last new Hufflepuff, and Professor McGonagall rolled up the scroll and carried away the Hat. The Headmaster took a few moments to welcome them all and the feast began. Andromeda ate and drank pumpkin juice until her belly hurt. The food, excitement, and long journey north were by the end of the feast making her woozy and tired, and a Slytherin prefect led her and other first years down to the dark dungeons, through a door cut out of stone, and into the common room. They were sent off to bed, four to a room.

In the dark, behind the deep emerald drapes of her four-poster, Andromeda was alone. She was undoubtedly sleepy, yet unbidden thoughts came to her. She could have been in Hufflepuff. The Hat had almost put her there with Desmond Appledoorn, Enid Zeller, and the almost-squibs and Edward Tonks, the Muggle-born in the blue plimsolls. Oh, it would have been miserable, Mummy and Daddy disappointed in her, Bella hating her. Cissy would have cried. But it didn't matter. It's a _stupid Hat_ , and it had done her right, besides. She was in Slytherin House, the place of her ancestors, where they'd lived and studied and slept. Perhaps, one of them in this very bed... Andromeda pulled her bedclothes tighter around her... And her sister was sleeping just down the corridor. And tomorrow morning, they would get up and go to breakfast together at the Slytherin table.


	2. Chapter 2

**Of Lasts and Firsts**

The Blacks made their way through King's Cross Station, looking something more like a cross between a circus and battalion than a family. The adults outnumbered the children as they marched double-time through the crowded platforms, in strict formation. Many of them cast withering glances at passing muggles where they likely wanted to cast curses. Andromeda reckoned they were just looking for an excuse to break the bloody Statue of Secrecy. Andromeda was near the head of the pack just behind Uncle Orion and Aunt Walburga, Sirius, between them. Her mother, Druella, was beside her, while her sister Narcissa was just behind her with Uncle Alphard and little Regulus. Great Uncle Arcturus and Great Aunt Melania were behind them while the tail was made up of Grandfather, Grandmother, and Cygnus, Andromeda's father, pushing the cart piled with three school trunks, two owls, and Narcissa's cat.

It was quite a change from last year when their own mother had said her goodbyes to Andromeda and Cissy from their front steps, not even deigning to journey to London. It had just been Daddy with them last year. But it was different this year. The Heir of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black was going to school.

Sirius walked with his head high, cool, and confident in a way few first years could on September 1st. Andromeda had been anxious and excited, and Narcissa cried when her mother kissed her goodbye. Andromeda spent that whole train ride soothing her baby sister. Only Bellatrix had been like Sirius, confident and seemingly above it all. At least she had seemed that way to nine-year-old Andromeda. There was something about being the eldest that perhaps made you a bit more self-assured, a bit more special. It was the reason Sirius could ignore all this pomp and circumstance and gushing over him, and it was why Bella could get out of being apart of this circus altogether.

And they did look like a circus. The oldest generation had not even tried to look like muggles. Grandmother and Grandfather and Uncle Arcturus and Auntie Melania were all dressed in their brilliant best robes, in shades of purple and green that would make your eyes hurt in direct sunlight. The others had made an effort, but a wasted one since dear Auntie Wally's ideas about inconspicuous muggle clothes were about 50 years out of date. People were staring, most pointedly, at her, a tall, striking dark-haired woman in an Edwardian-style gown and the ridiculous ruffle around Regulus's little neck. And yet she'd scolded Daddy for letting his daughters leave wearing dresses "like _that," "that"_ only meaning cut somewhere above the mid-thigh.

"Here we are," Uncle Alphard said delightedly as the circus made it finally to the barrier. He looked like Daddy and Aunt Walburga, tall, dark-haired, and handsome. But while they were domineering and patrician in their looks, there was something impish and friendly about his rounder face. They formed a little half-circle around Sirius and his parents. This would not stop people from looking at them, not that any of them besides Andromeda really cared.

"The girls should go first," Uncle Orion said. He was shorter than Auntie Wally, and somewhat less handsome, but sturdy-looking. "They'll show you how it's done, Sirius."

"I don't need to be shown," Sirius asserted sharply. He straightened his back and walked right through without hesitance.

"The boy didn't need to be shown!" Uncle Alphard said much amused, before Uncle Orion or Auntie Wally could hurry after Sirius. "Come on, Reg, let's go get your brother," Regulus clutched Uncle Alph's hand, eyes wide. They walked forward through the barrier, Regulus bracing at the moment he would have hit the bricks had they indeed been there.

"You next, Girls," Mummy said, ushering Andromeda and Cissy forward. They both slipped through Platform 9 3/4 shimmering into existence before them. The train was there, as always, crimson and shining, billowing smoking onto the platform teeming with people.

Sirius, Regulus, and Uncle Alph were standing off to the side, waiting for them. Regulus's eyes were the size of dinner plates, gazing at the train, and even Sirius looked a bit more excited than before. Once the rest of the family had joined them, Auntie Wally made Daddy and Uncle Orion take Narcissa's and Sirius's trunks onto the train. Andromeda, at seventeen, could levitate her own as well as they could, so she went with them and found an empty compartment.

"No, you won't being going into the Lake," Andromeda heard Grandmother saying as they made their way back to the family on the platform. They were once again focused on Sirius, who was grinning devilishly.

"You're going to be getting more than a few howlers, I reckon," Uncle Alph said with a laugh. He found all of the children's antics hilarious, but Sirius was the best at making mischief and thus his favourite.

"I'll be disappointed in myself if I don't," Sirius said, giving his mother a cheeky look.

"What's this about howlers?" Daddy asked.

"We're just discussing Sirius's future at Hogwarts," Uncle Alph said.

"Which will consist of nothing but being a model student with behavior befitting a Black heir," Auntie Wally said, in a somewhat facetious tone. She knew her son.

"Just like your cousin," Grandmother said with a nod toward Narcissa, who beamed. She had just been made Slytherin prefect, and though she hadn't been insufferable about it, Andromeda knew she was proud of herself.

"Sirius will be a credit to Slytherin, just you wait. He's bright as they come." Uncle Arcturus said, tapping his cane on the platform. He was not really Andromeda's Great Uncle. The title was a courtesy because he was the Head of the House of Black, Grandfather's first cousin, and Sirius's other grandfather.

No one put forward the notion that he would not be in Slytherin. Not even Sirius, who didn't seem at all interested in the adults bloviating about his grand future. For the first time, he seemed anxious to get going.

"Can we get on the train yet?" He asked.

Uncle Orion got out his pocket watch. "Yes, Alright. It's not quite 11. We should say our goodbyes if we want to beat the rush out. We have brunch reservations at half past and Walburga, and I can't disapparate there with Reg."

"Oh! I forgot to tell you all. I'm afraid I can't make it to brunch," Uncle Alphard said. "Meeting with my publishers. I already pushed it back to make it here." Regulus looked dejected at the idea of going to eat with only the grown-ups, since Uncle Alph certainly didn't count as one of them.

"How terrible," Auntie Wally said unconvincingly, before turning back to Sirius to give him a final goodbye and reminder to be good.

"Goodbye, Girls. I'll be writing, do remember to reply promptly," Grandmother said in her stately way to Andromeda and Narcissa, kissing both of their cheeks. She turned back to Sirius. Everyone took turns between wishing Andromeda and Cissy well and adoring Sirius for the last time until Christmas.

Daddy kissed both girls goodbye and then Mummy with her usual sad smile.

"Oh, my girls. Where have my little girls gone... Have a good year! Be good!" She hugged Narcissa first and then pulled Andromeda into a hug. "And, Drommy, keep an eye on your cousin, especially on the train. You never know what kind of riffraff he could meet."

"Yes, Mummy," Andromeda tried to sound dutiful.

"7th year goes by so quickly. Do try to enjoy it."

"Yes, Mummy."

She pulled Andromeda tighter for a moment before Regulus came over to them.

"Have a good year at school," Regulus's little voice squeaked.

"Oh, thank you, Reg," Andromeda said.

"We're going to miss you awfully," Cissy said. "I can't wait until you're at school with us."

Cissy crouched down in front of him. Like most little witches, Andromeda and, most especially, Narcissa had always loved babies, and they'd been absolutely delighted when they got two of their very own as cousins. Sirius was far too independent to allow himself to be babied for very long, but Regulus was softer and sweeter.

"But you'll write me, right, Cissy?"

"I'll write you so much Aeolus will be sick of it," She cooed.

"Oh, no!" Regulus's eyes were wide and fearful. "But if he flies too much, he'll die! I don't want him to die! I'll be sure to give him enough water and mice, so he doesn't!"

"Ok, yes, I'll do the same," Cissy said, giving Andromeda an amused smile.

"Goodbye, Girls," Uncle Alph came over to them, smiling. "I'm not going to tell you to be good because I am many things, but I am not a hypocrite, but do have a good year. All my love and Etienne's, too," He quickly glanced at the rest, who—besides Regulus—were paying attention to Sirius. His voice dropped lower, "And you still want me to send you those other books, Drommy?"

"Oh, erm, yes," Andromeda said, acutely aware of Cissy and Reg.

"Lovely," He smiled, his voice loud and jolly again. "I think you both should be getting on with it, or Sirius may combust."

"Right," Uncle Orion said, pocket watch in hand again. "We've got to be going,"

"Yes, and so have we," Sirius said. Just as he spoke, the warning whistle sounded. "See!" He started making his way to the carriage door, and Andromeda and Cissy followed, waving a final hurried goodbye.

"We should find our compartment. I need to change into my robes and go to the prefect's carriage. The Heads are leading a meeting," Cissy said, as other stragglers climbed aboard the carriage with them. "Which way, Drommy?"

But Sirius was already leading the way, like he knew exactly where he was going. He was going the right way, so Andromeda let him. At the very least, she didn't have to worry about him crying the whole ride like Cissy had. They pushed past the crowd of people still boarding the train.

"What books is Uncle Alph sending you?" Cissy asked as they walked. The train had started to move underneath them.

"Some things one of his friends wrote," Andromeda shrugged and spoke in a low voice as Sirius was close enough ahead of them to hear.

Cissy made a disgusted face, her nose seeming more upturned than usual.

"Mummy says all of his friends are deviants and rabble-rousers."

"Mummy says a lot of things," Andromeda protested. "She likes Etienne well enough,"

"You know she tolerates Etienne for Daddy's sake," Cissy said. " _Anyway,_ did Etienne write the books? We'd surely have heard if he'd written books. Are they books of music? You haven't touched the piano in years,"

"I'm taking it up again," Andromeda said, glancing into the compartments as they passed them, so she didn't miss theirs by accident, and so she didn't have to look at her sister.

"No, you're not," Cissy shook her head. Cissy looked like their mother, blonde with the same upturned nose, and Andromeda privately thought they shared something of the same nervous disposition. "Why don't you want me to know?"

"Why do you even care?" Andromeda asked.

"I'm not going to tattle on you. I'm not a little girl."

"I don't think you are," Andromeda lied. There were few things Andromeda did not tell her sisters, but she knew very well what those things should be.

Just then, they passed a compartment full of familiar faces. Andromeda stopped.

"Wait."

"What?" Cissy turned around, arms crossed.

"Get Sirius, and wait for me, I'll just be a moment," She gestured to the compartment.

"But I've got to go to my meeting."

"You won't be late. The bloody Head Boy is in there," Andromeda said.

"Oh." Narcissa raised her eyebrows, all of her annoyance gone. She peered into the compartment with interest. "Why do you want to see Frank Longbottom?"

"I don't."

"Sure, you don't," Cissy smirked. "You're always hanging around him. I'm sure you haven't even noticed how handsome he is."

"I don't give a toss about Frank Longbottom." Andromeda asserted. "And Frank's got a girlfriend."

"Like that means anything."

Andromeda glared at her sister. She was probably right as far as Frank Longbottom was concerned. "Just go get Sirius," She added, slipping inside before Narcissa could reply.

"Dromeda!" There was an excited squeal, and with a flash of reddish-brown hair, arms were tight around her. Gwendoline Fawley was a deceptively waifish looking little thing, who had built up muscle through years of Quidditch.

"Oi, Black, what are you doing in here?" said an amused boy's voice.

"Leave Andromeda alone, Frank," Gwen protested lightening up on the hug but, with a vice grip on Andromeda's arm, pulled her into the seat beside her.

"Hi, Andromeda," Ted Tonks was sitting on her other side. He looked quite smart in his muggle clothes. He had wavy golden hair and lovely blue eyes, that twinkled when he smiled and he was smiling at her. "Don't mind Frank."

"Hi, Ted," She smiled back. "Don't worry, I never do,"

"Turning my best friend against me now?" Frank was lounging in the window seat with his arm around his girlfriend, Sonia Crickerly, the 7th year Ravenclaw prefect. She was perhaps the prettiest girl in their year. "Typical Slytherin."

"I wouldn't say that in front of the Head Girl," Sonia said teasingly, leaning into Frank.

"Right, she might send an unforgivable your way, Frank," said Des Appledoorn. Both Des and his girlfriend, Mary Lazarus, the 7th year Hufflepuff prefects, were sitting opposite Andromeda. Frank and the rest of the prefects were already in their black school robes, shining badges pinned to their chests. Andromeda didn't mind Sonia, but the other two were complete swots.

"Wait! Who's Head Girl?" Barbara Belby, Sonia's friend, was asking from her seat on the floor.

"Melinda McKinnon," Mary said the name like it was a swear word.

"Really?" Barbara said incredulously, looking to Frank.

"Yeah, it's her," Frank said.

"Merlin's pants!"

"Do you reckon Dumbledore did it out of pity?" Des asked.

"I feel so bad for her," Barbara squeaked.

"I heard he let her and her brother and sister move in early," Mary said. "If it were my dad, I wouldn't have even come back."

"He probably did it so they wouldn't have to listen to everyone gossiping about them on the train," Frank said, and Andromeda hoped that would be the end of it. She had heard variations on this conversation so many times over the summer.

"Are we just not supposed to talk about it? Pretend it didn't happen?" Mary persisted.

"Yeah, I reckon we should because whatever her dad's done, it's got nothing to do with her," Ted said, his usual jovial tone gone from his voice.

"Come on, Ted, you really want to sit in class with someone who's dad did that?" Des said. "You of all people—"

"Shut up, Des," Frank said in a voice that made it obvious why he had that Head Boy badge.

They fell silent. Andromeda felt incredibly tense. Most of these people weren't even her friends. Gwen looked nervous, and she spoke in a tight voice.

"We all know Melinda's perfectly nice. We've gone to school with her for six years."

"And Marlene must be alright. She's dating one of the Prewetts," Sonia said. "I can never tell them apart."

"Molly?" Frank grinned cheekily.

"Oh, shut up," There was only playful exasperation in this declaration.

"Anyone up for Exploding Snap?" Des asked, perhaps wanting to change the subject off of the McKinnons, now that he'd been told off.

"Actually, we all ought to be going to that meeting," Frank stood up.

"Yes, Mr Head Boy, Sir," Sonia intoned.

"Right," Des said, standing and opening the door. "But, I want a game when I get back." Des, Mary, and Sonia filed out of the compartment. Andromeda stood to leave.

"You're staying, aren't you, Dromeda?" Ted said quickly.

"Oh, yes, stay!" Gwen said.

"Sorry, but I have a cousin to look after."

"Come back after the meeting!" Ted said with an imploring look. She had an urge to say yes.

"I'll see," Andromeda said before leaving, Frank behind her.

"Finally," Cissy huffed. She was standing in the corridor, alone.

"Where is Sirius?" Andromeda said.

"He ran off with some other firstie," Cissy said. "He wouldn't come back with me."

"Narcissa, Mummy said we were supposed to keep an eye on him."

"She said you were supposed to keep an eye on him if I remember correctly," Cissy crossed her arms. "Finding Sirius is your problem. I have a meeting I'm going to be late for. I haven't even changed into my robes yet."

"You don't have to change," Frank said from behind Andromeda.

"But you're in your robes," Cissy said.

"But I don't look as good as you in muggle clothes," Frank smiled roguishly. Cissy was right. Frank was undeniably handsome, and a prat. Cissy was wearing one of Andromeda's muggle dresses, colourful and eye-catchingly short. "You won't get in trouble with me."

"I suppose you are Head Boy." Cissy smiled at him and then gave Andromeda a look that seemed to say, _I told you so_. "I'll come find you after the meeting."

Cissy and Frank headed toward their carriage at the front of the train.

As the train was running steadily north through the English countryside, Andromeda was wandering around looking for Sirius. She peeked into several compartments here and there, thinking she saw a dark-haired first year. Every wrong guess left her more and more annoyed, wanting to go back to Ted's compartment. She'd even shouted at a dark-haired boy and a red-headed girl coming down a corridor, thinking the boy was Sirius. They had both jumped out of their skins.

She found him, eventually, in a carriage at the very front of the train with a group of rowdy boys belting a Quidditch chant. There was something about "a Magpie murder's a mercy" and "a quaffle up the arse, you see." One of the boys was standing on the seat, conducting the others with grand flourishes of his arms. There were candy wrappers everywhere.

"Boo, what are you here for?" Sirius asked, the remains of a chocolate frog, or ten, around his mouth.

"Is this your sister?" said the bespectacled boy standing on the seat. He looked Andromeda up and down with a stupid grin.

"My cousin."

"She looks like you," the boy said, and Sirius pulled a face.

"What are you doing in here?" Andromeda crossed her arms.

"Having Fun!" The bespectacled boy said.

"I didn't ask you," She glared at him.

"Don't talk to James like that," Sirius was outraged. "He's my mate."

"You just met him!"

"And I already like him better than you," He replied. Andromeda glared at him and this James character. He was undoubtedly of _some_ magical stock and other three boys in the compartment seemed fine enough. Two were wearing everyday robes, and the third wore a Tutshill Tornadoes shirt. At the very least, they weren't her mother's idea of _riffraff._

"Come get your robes before it gets dark," And she left.

She thought briefly about going back to Ted and Gwen's compartment or going to find her Slytherin friends, but she was not really in the mood for either of them. So she returned to her original compartment that she hadn't sat in yet. It was empty.

The trolley witch came around eventually. Andromeda felt a bit better after eating a few pumpkin pasties. Mummy always said never to spell cast on an empty stomach, and that advice could be applied to most things, not just spells. But she still had a terrible smoldering unhappiness that sat somewhere in her chest. She didn't know what to do about it. She never did.

Taking advantage of being alone, she brought down her trunk, pulling out her school robes. They were buried deep inside and wrapped tightly around a small square book. She unwrapped them, revealing its bright red cover stamped with the title, _Your Brothers and Your Sisters: The Case for Squib Rights_ by Euphemera O'Brien in gold. Uncle Alph had slipped it to her a few days after catching her roll her eyes during some hateful tirade of Grandfather's at family brunch. They had only had a stilted conversation about her feelings on the matter that day. She was hesitant at first to share her opinions, fearing her father had put him up to it. But Uncle Alph was genuine. He had always seemed like just her fun silly uncle, who said scandalous things to make Aunt Wally angry with him. But it seemed he had friends not just among the salacious and sordid, but the downright radical as he'd promised to send her _Artemisia is Dead: Magical Anarcha-Feminism in the 20th Century_ and _Wands Against Wizards_ from his own library. Andromeda could not even imagine the interesting people he must know.

She pulled on her robes, curled up in the window seat, with Cissy's cat, Bianca in her lap, and began to read.

After about an hour and two chapters, there was a commotion in the corridor. Andromeda had just enough time to shove the little book into her robe pocket as the door opened. It was Cissy. But she wasn't alone.

"I found some friends," She said, as Lucius Malfoy slid in behind her, followed by Ian Crabbe, so large he had to duck under the doorway.

"The more, the merrier," Andromeda intoned, sitting up. Bianca, startled awake, hopped off her lap with an annoyed flick of her tail. Cissy picked her up, cooing and petting her.

"That's what I told your sister," Lucius sat down next to her. He grinned. His smile had always reminded Andromeda of a snarling dragon. "I knew you wouldn't mind having us hang around."

Narcissa took the seat on the other side of Lucius. Ian sat down opposite them. "Where is Sirius?"

"With some other first years. I couldn't get him to come back so I left him."

"I hope they're the right sort," Malfoy teased.

"Of course they are."

"Because you have the best judge of character," Crabbe said acerbically.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cissy's eyebrows were knit together.

"She's always running around with Fawley and her friends."

"There's nothing wrong with Gwen," Andromeda said defensively. The Fawleys were more pureblood than the Crabbes and probably even the Malfoys. "We were divination partners."

"You and all of Hufflepuff?"

"Knock it off, Ian. He's just upset that Gwen's Hufflepuff's Captain. If she's half as good at that as she is at seeker, we're in trouble this year." Lucius said, leaning toward Andromeda, teeth out again. "How was your holiday?"

"Dull."

"Oh, come now."

"She's right. Dorset is terribly boring," Cissy lamented. "We only made it up to London a few times and only really to visit family. What about you?"

"We had fun," Lucius shared a look with Crabbe, shifting closer to Andromeda. She moved closer to the wall. The book in her pocket pressed uncomfortably into her hip. "We both ran into your sister a few times, at parties and things."

"Yes, Bella mentioned you!" Cissy chirped. She didn't tell Malfoy what Bella said about him. None of it would have pleased him. What their father said about him, or any of Bella's friends, would please him even less. "I wish we were invited to some parties. But Daddy says we're too young and Bella shan't—"

"I'm sure I could get you an invitation," Lucius said to Cissy, then looked pointedly back at Andromeda. "Both of you, the next time we have a get together."

Andromeda had no desire to get anything from Lucius Malfoy, but Cissy was smiling sweetly.

"Oh, Thank you! That's so thoughtful, isn't it, Drommy?"

"It's very nice of you."

"Anything for the Black sisters." Lucius was still looking pointedly at Andromeda. "Of course, it won't be until Christmas we can go to a party again. Perhaps we could go together to Hogsmeade before then?"

Andromeda faltered. "Oh. erm, perhaps."

"Don't hold your breath, Lucius," Cissy smiled. "I think Drommy wants to go with Frank Longbottom."

"Cissy!" Andromeda stared at her sister, who she realised was perhaps still annoyed with her. "I don't fancy him. I don't know why you've got it in your head that I do."

"Andromeda's too clever for that. The only person who fancies Longbottom is the one daft enough to make him Head Boy." There was an edge to Lucius's voice that Andromeda was convinced was jealousy. "My mother was sure I was going to be Head Boy, but I knew there was no chance since Dippet's retirement. Dumbledore's always favored his own house."

"He probably would have picked that Mudblood Winthrop for Head Girl too," Crabbe shared an amused grin with Malfoy. "Except McKinnon's dad went barmy."

Andromeda was not sure she would call attacking a squib family member with an unforgivable curse "barmy." She also certainly didn't feel comfortable saying as much with the book that was in her pocket.

"Our grandfather said Mr. McKinnon's going to Azkaban for life," Cissy said.

"Some nutters are calling for him to get the Dementor's Kiss too apparently. He didn't even kill anyone."

"Oh, it's all awful business, isn't it?"

"Quite. And of course, people are using it for their own agendas..." Lucius shook his head. "It's just more evidence that our kind shouldn't mix with muggles."

"None of it would have happened if that were the case." Cissy agreed.

The conversation was unbearable, and Andromeda felt like the book was burning a hole in her pocket the longer it went on. Until Cissy remembered that as prefects, they had to do patrols of the corridor and persuaded Malfoy to do them with her, they left with Crabbe. Andromeda cautiously pulled her book out of her pocket and began to read again. She only noticed how much time had passed when the compartment lanterns overhead came on, and the gradually fading light in the compartment brightened immensely. Outside the window, the sun was just beginning to dip below the horizon, and it wasn't long before Sirius showed up to change, his new little gang all hanging about in the corridor, laughing and yelling. Andromeda hid her book again and helped him get down his trunk with her wand.

"We're almost there," She said as he pulled his robes over his head.

"I know," His head appeared through the neck hole.

"Are you getting excited? Or nervous?" Andromeda asked. She reached forward to straighten his collar.

"No," Sirius frowned and wrenched away from her. He left, letting the door slam behind him.

She had to put his trunk away, and before she could get back to her book, Cissy returned. She had been in Malfoy's compartment with the other Slytherin seventh years, many of whom were Andromeda's friends, and chattered on about him and them while she changed into her own robes.

By the time she had finished talking about Moira Goyle's holiday in Rome, the Hogwarts Express had come to its final stop at Hogsmeade station. Sirius had returned for his owl and luggage, and Cissy left again for prefect duties.

There was a scramble to exit, with a great deal of bumping, shoving, and shouting, as there was every year. Andromeda realised this would be the last of all of this for her and tried to savor it. She even decided not to be too annoyed when Sirius's little bespectacled friend, who had appeared again, as if by apparition, nearly knocked Aeolus's cage out of her hand as they clamored their way out onto the platform. Ogg, the groundskeeper, and his gigantic apprentice were both calling for first years and Cissy, prefect badge shining on her chest, shepherded Sirius and his friend and the other first years toward them at the end of the platform. Andromeda went the opposite way to wait for Cissy by the coaches.

"Dromeda!"

Ted Tonks was waving to her, holding open the door of a coach. Gwen suddenly popped her head out the door. "Oh, well spotted, Ted!"

"Come ride with us!" Ted called.

"Oh, erm," The thought of riding back with not just her sister but a carriage full of Slytherin prefects compared to Gwen and Ted Tonks...

"Come on! We don't bite!" Gwen called again.

Andromeda glanced down the platform. There was no Cissy in sight, no Lucius Malfoy or Ian Crabbe, or any other unsympathetic housemate.

"Alright."

A smile broke out onto Ted's face. Andromeda couldn't help but smile back at him.

Climbing inside, she found that it was nearly already full. Barbara Belby was in the coach, too, along with two other Hufflepuffs. The door closed with a snap behind Ted, and the two of them squeezed in beside Barbara for the bumpy, lurching ride to Hogwarts Castle.

"How was your cousin's first train ride?" Ted asked her. Andromeda was pleasantly surprised he'd remembered.

"You'd have to ask him." She said, her annoyance with Sirius slipping through.

"He didn't sit with you?" Gwen asked.

"You should have come and joined us then," Ted said.

"I'm sorry. I ended up riding with my sister." She lied, hoping he would understand.

"I can't believe your cousin wanted to sit by himself," Barbara said.

"Sirius is very independent."

"No, kidding. I was bloody terrified my first train ride." Ted said and then glanced at Andromeda with some discomfort. "But I reckon it's different when everyone in your family's already done it."

She knew Ted was Muggle-born, but he rarely mentioned it, at least when she was around.

"I was still scared on my first train ride," Andromeda said.

They passed through the gates, finally on school grounds.

"Almost there," Ted nearly pressed his face to the glass window of the carriage.

"There it is," He pointed at the imposing castle just becoming visible in the distance. Everyone gathered around the windows; Andromeda looked out over Ted's shoulder. He was grinning. "This is the last time we'll see it like this."

Ted was right. This was it. Andromeda had had a similar but fleeting thought to savor getting off the train, and she felt an even greater urge to remember this moment. Maybe she should have felt a sad bit of nostalgia watching the castle grow from a miniature on the horizon until only the grand oak doors were visible. But with her face so close to Ted's, she only felt an exhilarating kind of nervousness.

The coach came to a halt at the doors. The six of them disembarked and followed the swarm of students climbing the stone steps inside. In the Great Hall, the Slytherin table was closest to the doors, so she had to leave them first. Ted smiled at her as she did.

Students continued pouring into the Great Hall until the four tables were crowded, all of their voices bringing the noise to a comfortable din. Cissy came in with the other Slytherin prefects and sat down just as Professor McGonagall appeared carrying a stool and the Sorting Hat, the long line of first years trailing behind her. Sirius was just behind his new friend. McGonagall set the Hat on the stool. Andromeda had hated the Hat since her very own sorting and found this part needlessly tedious.

"There once was a young wizard

who journeyed to Hogwarts from Mudford Sock

He envisioned a life of enchantment and charm.

But all he could do when he saw me was gawk..."

Narcissa slid down the bench closer to Andromeda.

"Why didn't you wait for me? Is this about what I said to Lucius about Frank—" she hissed quietly.

"You were just taking too long. I didn't want to be late." Andromeda lied, trying to turn her attention back to the Hat.

Cissy frowned at her, and Andromeda was unsure what she was thinking.

The Hat had stopped singing, and it only took a beat before the applause began. Professor McGonagall unfurled the class list to the floor.

"Adams, Xavier," She announced loudly, and a little tawny-haired boy came forward, eyes round. McGonagall set the Hat on his head.

"Ravenclaw!" Shouted the Hat, and the table beside Slytherin broke out with cheers.

The next first year also went to Ravenclaw, and there were three Hufflepuffs in a row before "Avery, Oswald" became the first Slytherin.

Andromeda and everyone around her cheered.

"Baddock, Elizabeth."

"Slytherin!"

There was even more cheering.

Sirius was standing as confidently as he had on the train platform, amidst a line of fidgety 11-year-olds. Even his friend from the train kept smoothing his hair and adjusting his glasses.

"Black, Sirius."

He sat down, and the Hat covered his dark hair and slipped over his eyes. Cissy caught Andromeda's eye, frown long gone, replaced with an excited smile. They'd been waiting for this all day.

There was another, more torturous wait.

Sirius and the Hat appeared to be in deep conversation as every so often, Sirius's face would break out into a grin, or he would wrinkle his nose in distaste. A few other Slytherins were starting to glance at Andromeda and Narcissa.

Andromeda was reminded uncomfortably of her own sorting. Hers had not lasted this long, though. The Hat had only teased her...Anyway, Sirius certainly wasn't a Hufflepuff. No, perhaps a Ravenclaw?

"Gryffindor!"

A roar erupted from the opposite end of the Great Hall. McGonagall plucked the Hat from Sirius's head, revealing Sirius's wide, surprised eyes. He recovered quickly enough, hopping down from the stool and making off toward the Gryffindor cheers.

Andromeda and Cissy were less resilient.

"Did it say Gryffindor!?" Cissy squeaked in disbelief.

Andromeda craned her neck to watch Sirius shake hands with Frank Longbottom. At the Gryffindor table. Sirius was at the Gryffindor table. She couldn't believe it either. A small part of her, she suspected the part that had been annoyed with Sirius all day, was less surprised. Of course, Sirius couldn't do one bloody thing the way he was supposed to.

"Auntie Wally's going to lose her mind," Cissy moaned. Andromeda was frowning. Her sister was right. There would be owls in the morning.


	3. Chapter 3

**An Announcement**

In a surprise to both Cissy and Andromeda, no letters came the next day or the day after that, though they paid careful attention to the owl post swooping in over breakfast each morning. If Sirius received any, he hadn't shared them with his cousins. In fact, they hadn't seen him at all outside of the Great Hall, which made Andromeda's job of keeping an eye on him, quite a bit harder.

"He's sitting with that boy again. They've got parchment and a quill out." Cissy said during breakfast on Friday morning. They had taken checking on Sirius during meals from afar, though neither of them wanted to be doing it.

"And?" Andromeda pressed, buttering her toast. She had her back to the Gryffindor table, Cissy across from her.

"He's writing. What else do you do with a quill?" Cissy's upturned nose was reaching new heights as she craned her neck to watch Sirius. "Homework, do you think?"

"He's slacking off already."

"Or he just has a lot of it. Maybe it's Transfiguration. I have a yard long essay due today, and we've only had one lesson."

"Really?" said Andromeda. Transfiguration was a grueling complex magic that she had dropped as soon as she could. 

"McGonagall was in a foul mood. I think Wigton's playing at home."

"Ugh, don't make me think about McGonagall's cycle while I'm eating." Andromeda pulled a face. And maybe her dislike for the Gryffindor Head of House hadn't made her keen to continue on with the subject either. "What does it look like he's writing?"

"Unfortunately, I didn't bring omnioculars to breakfast." Cissy sniped, and Andromeda glowered at her.

She turned around, looking over the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws to find Sirius and the bespectacled boy from the train (who was also in Gryffindor and had sat next to Sirius at every meal) amidst the sea of black robes and pointy hats.

She spotted a head of familiar golden blond hair first. Ted Tonks was sitting beside Frank Longbottom at the Gryffindor table. He was eating a piece of toast, just like she was. His had jam on it. And he must have found whatever nonsense Frank was saying funny because he started laughing, his eyes crinkling up in delight. Ted brandished his toast at Frank like a wand, jam splattering his robes. Ted's eyes grew in horror, and Andromeda bit her lip to keep from laughing.

"What do you think?"

Andromeda, startled, spun back around. She hoped her cheeks had not turned as pink as she thought they had. "I think it's probably just homework."

Cissy accepted it readily and went back to her scrambled eggs.

They ate the rest of their breakfast, as Moira Goyle, one of the girls in Andromeda's year, passed around photographs of her Italian holiday. Andromeda had heard so much about Rome in the past few days, it was as if she had gone herself, except without any of the fun bits. Just as Moira was showing her a photo of the gelato place across the street from her family's hotel, the post arrived.

Hundreds of owls entered the Great Hall. Andromeda tried to pick out something familiar among the flock, the family's tawny owl or Auntie Wally's eagle-owl maybe. However, the one she recognized was completely unexpected.

It was Bellatrix's Banded Black owl that descended and perched herself on the edge of the table beside Cissy, a letter tied tightly to her leg.

"Is it from Mummy?" Andromeda asked, though Bella rarely allowed anyone to use her owl.

"I don't think so," Cissy untied the letter, looking as confused as Andromeda felt. Their names were written on the front of the envelope in Bella's looping ornamental script. Bella was the last person she had expected to weigh in on Sirius's sorting.

Cissy opened the envelope and began to read to herself. The letter seemed short, little more than a note. Cissy was frowning.

"Here," She handed the letter to Andromeda.

_Dear Drommy and Cissy,_

_I wanted so badly for it to be a surprise, but Mummy says I must write and tell you because it would be absolutely wretched of me to not. Thus I am compromising and being only predominantly wretched._

_I'm writing to tell you to remember to read the Sunday Prophet._

_Love,_

_Bella_

_P.S. Sirius is in Gryffindor? What a laugh! Auntie Wally's taken to her bed!_

"What is she on about?" asked Andromeda, looking up at Cissy.

"I haven't the foggiest idea," said Cissy dramatically. "I hate her."

"What's wrong?" Ramona Greengrass and Moira Goyle both leaned over, and Andromeda passed the paper to them. They read quickly, and when they were done, Ramona looked confused, and Moira intrigued.

"She likes to be vexing," Andromeda said in explanation.

"What do you think it's about?" Moira asked.

"Maybe those friends of hers have done something terrible," Andromeda said. Daddy hated Bella's friends, always saying they were a waste of good breeding. Andromeda hated them too, though she wasn't sure she agreed with his reasoning. She looked down the table to where Melinda McKinnon was sitting by herself. She could easily imagine Bella's friends doing something like Melinda's father had done. 

"I don't think so," Cissy pulled a face.

"Just because you want to go to one of their parties—"

"It's not that," Cissy snapped. "I just think Mummy would have written if it were something terrible."

"And Bella sounds rather excited about whatever it is," Ramona interjected. She was always trying to be helpful.

"She does. It might be something good to do with her friends. Lucius might know." Before Andromeda could object, Cissy had snatched up the letter and walked down the table to where Lucius and his friends were sitting.

She returned a minute later, smiling but with no information about the letter. Andromeda had expected as much. Bella didn't want to tell them about whatever this was. She wasn't going to tell Lucius Malfoy.

With Moira and Ramona's help, the sisters spent the rest of breakfast trying to figure out what it could be, throwing out one improbable scenario after another. While Ramona suggested an award from the Minister for Magic, which supposedly someone in her family had received once, they couldn't think of a serious reason Bella would get one, though Cissy had suggested, with something of a smirk, that it could be for throwing a very good party. The best they could come up with was that maybe she had made a philanthropic donation but Bella didn't have any money of her own, and they couldn't think of a reason she'd write such a letter about it. Of course, by the time they reached this theory, Cissy had to hurry off to Charms class and Moira, Ramona, and Andromeda, all in N.E.W.T.-level Potions, headed off down to the dungeons.

"It might be St. Mungo's, though Bella doesn't really have an affinity for healing," said Andromeda. Her older sister's inclinations were very much the opposite.

"You don't have to be interested in healing. You just have to have a lot of money." Moira said in a lofty almost dismissive voice. "You know, I just can't stand the art here. All of it is so terribly _English._ "

"Is that so?" said Ramona in an offhand way. Moira, who before her trip to Rome, had only cared about her hair and Quidditch, now seemed to be an expert in Renaissance art and other subjects could only hold her interest for short periods. Ramona spent most of her week with Moira, having shaped their N.E.W.T.s schedules around each other, and had probably heard this already.

Andromeda did not know how the two of them were friends. They were opposites in looks and in personality. Moira was short and curvy, with perfectly coiffed light brown curls while Ramona was tall and thin with straw blonde hair she wore in a simple plait every day. Ramona if not for her height and pretty face would have gone unnoticed by most people without complaint. Moira was the type to make sure she wasn't ignored. Yet, they'd always been inseparable. It was Andromeda, who on most counts was more like both of them than they were like each other—being of medium height and neither chatty nor overly quiet, and only caring moderately about her hair—that hung around the edges of their tight friendship.

"There's this painter Rodrigo di Siena. Everything he paints is so—so moving, so animated. The muggles are very concerned with this fellow called Michelantonio, but he hasn't got a thing on di Siena. He just captures something so authentic about the subject. I wish we had something of di Siena's here."

"Some of our paintings are nice."

"But you haven't been to Rome. All you know are English paintings."

"We have that one of Salazar Slytherin in the common room. It's very good." Ramona persisted, for some reason. Andromeda was much too concerned with Bella's letter to care about Moira's impression of Professor Binns. She supposed that whatever it was that Bella was on about, it was the reason no one else in the family had written about Sirius. They were all too preoccupied with Bella, as per usual. 

"But that wasn't painted until Slytherin was dead, so he's not genuine," Moira was explaining as if Ramona was a particularly slow first year. "The magic's different. I learned all about it in Rome."

"Buongiorno, Signore." Professor Slughorn greeted them at the door to the Potions classroom.

"Buongiorno, sir," Moira said with a grin. "That means 'good morning, ladies.'"

"Excellent, Miss Goyle," Slughorn said jollily. "Your grandfather told me all about your trip, but I look forward to hearing about it from you."

"Of course, Sir."

"I want to hear about both of your holidays as well," Slughorn nodded at both Andromeda and Ramona, gesturing them forward into the classroom.

It was already quite full. Slughorn was a particularly attentive teacher to students he liked, especially Slytherins. Most of their housemates had made it to N.E.W.T.-level Potions, even Andromeda, whose O.W.L. scores were mediocre and N.E.W.T.s schedule turned out rather higgledy-piggledy. She was only taking three classes, one less than the standard four. The other two—Divination and History of Magic—were considered rather soft subjects.

There were empty seats dotted in ones and twos at tables around the room.

"Moira!" Ian Crabbe was waving from a table at the front of the room. Lucius Malfoy was sitting next to him with his eyes on Andromeda. She frowned.

Moira hurried off happily to the seat opposite Crabbe. Ramona looked furtively to Andromeda, probably thinking that she would want the open seat.

"Erm—"

"Go sit with them, I don't mind," Andromeda said, trying to make it seem like a kindness and not like Malfoy was the last person she wanted to sit with through a double Potions lesson.

Ramona smiled appreciatively before following Moira over, and Andromeda saw Malfoy frowning at Ramona. She walked back to the second, then third rows of tables, looking for a seat. The rest of the Slytherin girls were at full tables. Yvonne Crespo, Andromeda's roommate, was sitting with the Pritchard twins and Emily Peasegood. Penelope Knolls was with her Ravenclaw boyfriend and his friends. She hardly knew most of the students from other houses.

At a table in the fourth row, Ted Tonks was sitting with Sonia and Frank.

"'Morning, Dromeda," Ted greeted. There was an empty seat beside him.

"'Morning," She smiled. "Is Gwen late? That's not like her."

All three of them exchanged surprised looks.

"She's not taking Potions this year," Ted said. "Dropped a class for extra study time. She thought she'd need it, being team Captain and all."

"Oh," Andromeda frowned. She and Gwen weren't the best of friends, but she was surprised she hadn't mentioned it at all. They had written to each other over the summer once or twice.

"You can take her seat, if you'd like."

"Er, well. Are you sure you're not waiting for someone else?"

"Nope."

Andromeda glanced back toward the front of the classroom. None of the Slytherins were paying her any mind. She'd been stupid enough to stare at him during breakfast, and Cissy hadn't noticed. Who was going to care who she sat with in class?

"Any particular reason you don't want to sit with us, Black?" Frank said innocuously enough, but Andromeda knew what he meant.

"No," Andromeda snapped, more forcefully than she should have, then added in a softer tone. "Of course not."

"It just seems like you'd much rather be sitting with your friends."

"We are her friends," Ted said so emphatically that Andromeda found herself pulling out the seat beside him.

"Well, at least Ted and I are," Sonia said sardonically. She and Andromeda were not friends, but she took jabs at Frank frequently enough that Andromeda had grown to like her.

Ted laughed just as Slughorn entered the room and called their attention to the front.

"Now then," Slughorn was saying, projecting his voice to even those of them in the fourth row of tables. "Everyone got your supplies out? Potion kits? Scales? I know, I know it's early, Mr McManus... Books? Right, Right. Good on you, Lucius, my boy... Are you all in pairs this morning? Four to a table if you can manage it... No, Mr Prewett with Mr MacMillan and the other Mr Prewett with... Mr Pilliwickle, isn't it?... Oh, Mr Pinkstone, yes, of course... Eve, won't you come sit with Mr Proudfoot? And Gordon, move to the seat behind you? Good, good."

There was a considerable amount of shifting until everyone had someone sitting beside them.

"Now then, now then, now then, with all of that settled, I'd like to welcome you all, my very best and brightest, back to your final year. We've mastered much in our time together... We've studied Shrinking Solutions, learned the Draught of Living Death, conquered Calming Draughts... Yes, you've all become quite accomplished potioneers, but we're coming to an end here. N.E.W.T.s are only nine months away, and hopefully, each and every one of you will pass with an Outstanding. If that is to be the case, however, we must not waste a moment!

"So we will be beginning this year with something of a refresher. That is why you've been made to pair up... Potions often seem a very solitary form of magic. Still, I am sure you've learned from years in this class that it is as cooperative as any other. We are constantly learning and building on each other's knowledge. As an example of that, today you'll be working in pairs, one of you brewing any potion we have learned in this class and the other the antidote. The best pair of potions, best attuned to each other, will, of course, be awarded a fair sum of house points." Slughorn smiled, under his bushy mustache, clasping his hands behind his back, and observing them with an amused air. Slughorn had some sort of game or prize for them on the first day every year. First year, thirty house points had been enough to leave them wide-eyed and gleeful. But last year's first Potions lesson had ended in Frank Longbottom pocketing a bottle of liquid luck and Lucius Malfoy fuming all through lunch. House points seemed a meager reward.

"What? Don't you think that's enough?" Slughorn looked at them with faux astonishment. "I suppose I do have some Felix Felicis leftover from our sixth year friends, enough for two of you, if you all think that is a fair enough prize?"

There was an excited twitter throughout the classroom, and Slughorn grinned. "You all remember the stipulations, of course..." Slughorn explained them despite everyone nodding vigorously, ready to begin.

Lucius Malfoy was discreetly setting up his work station already, while Penelope Knolls's boyfriend had his Potions book open in his lap, hurriedly flipping through it.

"Now, off to the races!" Slughorn pronounced.

Andromeda and Ted looked at each other. Frank and Sonia were pulling their cauldrons toward themselves, as was everyone around them.

"What potion do you want to do?" Ted asked, as he copied them and scraped both of their cauldrons across the table.

"A Hair Growth Potion?" Andromeda suggested.

"That's only a fifth year potion," Ted shook his head.

"You're right. What about Shrinking Solution?"

"Third year."

She pulled her book out of her cauldron and began to flip through it, feeling Ted's eyes on her. She was only really middling at Potions. The E on her O.W.L.s had been some sort of magic itself.

"Only something spectacular will win," Ted was leaning over her shoulder, standing very close.

"Amortentia?" She suggested showing him the page depicting a cartoon swooning woman and her infatuated beau.

Ted made an intrigued _hmmm._

"Takes a fortnight to brew, and you have to start the base while Venus is in retrograde," Sonia interjected, already cutting up a Chinese Chomping Cabbage, carefully keeping her fingers out of the way of its jaws.

"And I'm guessing it's not?" Ted asked sarcastically, and Sonia raised an elegantly-arched dark eyebrow at him. Andromeda set her book down. He looked at her with a small smile. "We haven't got a chance in hell, have we?"

"To win the liquid luck, I'd need to drink some in the first place," Andromeda agreed.

"Not even a drop left for us, mate?" Ted put out a palm toward Frank to which he only smirked. "Hair Growth Potion it is."

And they set to work, Ted on the potion and Andromeda on the antidote, observing the steps Ted took. Their potions were coming along swimmingly as they should have, considering they were only O.W.L.-level.

Frank and Sonia's set were far ahead of their own, already bubbling nicely over their burners. Frank was stirring his clockwise while Sonia was going anti-clockwise. Professor Slughorn was making his rounds.

"What do we have here? Amnesirum and a finely tuned Recollection Draught. Very good. Very good. Going for that liquid luck once again, Mr Longbottom? You and Miss Crickerly are certainly in the running." He smiled enthusiastically at Frank and Sonia's cauldrons. "What are you working on, Miss Black?"

"It's Hair Growth Potion, Sir."

"Very good." He said joylessly, giving a perfunctory smile. Andromeda noticed that Ted's mouth twitched into a frown for just a moment as Slughorn walked away.

Slughorn could be quite short with people who he found unimpressive. Though he'd always been pleasant enough to Andromeda, despite her lack of skill.

Gwen was very good at Potions, and perhaps Ted wished that she could have been his partner. It was a ridiculous thought to have, and Andromeda's stomach twisted uncomfortably. Quickly she pushed it away.

"Frank, don't be greedy about it," Gordon Spencer-Moon said. The table diagonal to them was full of Ravenclaws. "Give one of us a chance! You've already tried it."

"I haven't," Sonia said sharply. "And I'm not losing when you can't master a Calming Draught, Gordon."

"It's not fair for Frank to win it twice!"

"It's fair if we brew the best potions," Frank said matter-of-factly, though he was grinning.

"What's it feel like?" Jimmy Boot, another Ravenclaw, asked.

"Feels blissful, mate. Like you can reach out and touch the moon."

The Ravenclaws returned to their own potions as Slughorn reached their table.

"More like touched by the moon," Ted said, mostly to Andromeda. "At least that's how he acted. He flew his broom out the window of Gryffindor tower."

"I was just trying to get to Ravenclaw."

"I thought you were going to smack into my window like an owl," Sonia commented.

"I made it in, though." He smiled cheekily. Andromeda felt her own face heat at the implication in his tone and turned her attention to shaving toad warts.

"Pretty hypocritical of you since you grassed on those first years trying to do the same thing the other night," said Ted.

"I'm Head Boy, and they were two firsties trying to sneak a school broom into the dormitory."

"Maybe I should have gone to Flitwick when I found you on my window ledge. Or maybe my brother?"

"Very funny. You would never." Frank said, amused. "Actually, one of them was Black's cousin."

"Sirius?" Andromeda looked up in the middle of measuring out her shavings.

"Yeah, he and the Potter kid."

"What were they trying to do? Fly to Ravenclaw too?" Andromeda asked. They had only started school three days ago. 

"Don't know," Frank said. "I turned them and the broom over to McGonagall. She dealt with them. Probably just gave them detention."

Andromeda dumped her measuring cup's worth of toad warts into her cauldron, with the harsh clang of steel on pewter. "I was meant to keep an eye on him, but..."

"Bit harder to do that when he's in Gryffindor, yeah?" Frank asked. Andromeda did not answer. Her instructions said to turn up the heat on her burner, which she did. "A Black in Gryffindor. I'm not sure he hasn't been sent as a spy to cause havoc."

"Don't you lot do that enough on your own? He sounds pretty Gryffindor already to me." Ted said, and there was a chuckle from Sonia. "But at least in Slytherin, he wouldn't have a fifteen-story window to fly a shoddy broom out of."

Andromeda did not say it, but even in Slytherin, Sirius would probably have found a way to cause mischief. He was terribly like Bella in that way. She imagined the dungeons flooded full of lake water, taking gillyweed tea with the mermaids and sharing a dormitory with the Giant Squid.

"You're forgetting that I did stop them."

"This time," Andromeda said, following instructions and beginning to stir. "It's one less incident I have to explain to my aunt. So thank you for that."

She hoped that would be the end of the conversation.

"I'm sure Frank will keep an eye on him for you if you'd like," Ted said. Andromeda looked up at him and then at Frank, who was looking at Ted. "It's already your job to look out for younger students. You just need to make sure you pay extra attention to Sirius, so he doesn't try to jump out of any more windows. At least, until he's had flying lessons."

"Yeah, alright. I don't mind if Black doesn't?" Frank shrugged.

"I don't, but if he turns out to be too much trouble, you don't have to," Andromeda said, unsure of how she felt about the idea. It was thoughtful of Ted, but Andromeda didn't want to be beholden to Frank Longbottom. It would feel weird. And she could only imagine what Cissy would say. Probably not much, but she would give her the most infuriating look, like this was some sort of sign of Frank's secret abiding love for her.

Still, it was probably better to have someone keeping an eye on Sirius, and she would prefer it wasn't her.

The rest of Potions passed rather quickly, and the classroom was soon filled with an assaulting amount of smells from all of the different concoctions and even a few sounds. One of the Hufflepuff girls in front of them had created something that let out a constant hissing, like air being let out of a balloon. Whether it was intentional or not, Andromeda did not know.

With twenty minutes left in class, Slughorn called time and started winding his way through the tables. The room was full of nervous energy, their table excluded. Frank and Sonia were confident they were going to win, and Andromeda and Ted knew they wouldn't. The two them worked well off of one another, and their potions looked almost exactly like their book illustrations. Andromeda's was a brackish greenish color while Ted's was a soft buttery yellow. Slughorn, when he finally reached them, gave both of their potions a light sniff and an approving if unimpressed nod.

Frank and Sonia's potions were, of course, perfect. He said nothing positive or negative, but the delight was evident on his face as he inspected their set. Andromeda could not quite describe Frank's. The precise look and smell alluded her, leaving her with just a hazy feeling of recognition while the scent of Sonia's shimmery coral potion recalled lilac bushes, like the ones that had once bloomed in the back garden of Starly Cottage when she was little.

"Now then!" Slughorn finally returned to the front of the classroom and called their attention. "You have all done an admirable job. Many of you have made most creative choices, while others have ridged dedication to the form. But we can only have two winners today! And there is a clear choice!" He grinned from under his mustache. "Mr Longbottom, Miss Crickerly, will you come up and collect your prizes, please!"

The reaction was mixed. There was some clapping, mostly from the few Gryffindors in the class and some of Sonia's friends. The Prewett twins, one a Ravenclaw and the other a Gryffindor, were whooping in delight. Sonia had such a haughty expression on her face as Slughorn handed her a tiny vial of liquid gold. Everything about Frank rang of smugness, even more than usual. Still, Andromeda couldn't entirely begrudge them for it. Gordon Spencer-Moon did, though, judging from his deep frown, and Lucius Malfoy was already cleaning up his workspace, with a furious look on his face.

* * *

It was Sunday morning.

Andromeda was sitting in the mostly empty Slytherin common room with the Sports Section of the Sunday Prophet, scanning the page for her older sister's name. She doubted she would find it there. Bella hated Quidditch unless Slytherin was playing. She liked dueling, but she wasn't in any of the leagues. She made fun of kids in Duelling Club at school. The Hogwarts Duelling Club and most of the leagues had strict rules, and Bella wasn't terribly interested in following those. But they were checking the whole paper.

Cissy was sitting beside her on the sofa. Two of her friends were in two Queen Anne chairs across the rug, and Moira and Ramona were seated back to back on an ottoman. All of them had sections of the Prophet in their hands.

They had all gone down to breakfast early that morning and eaten so that by the time the Sunday Prophet arrived, they could hurry back to the common room to read it. Bella's letter was all that Cissy and Andromeda had spoken about together since Friday morning. (This had thankfully saved Andromeda from mentioning her agreement with Frank Longbottom.) Moira and Ramona were less devoted to the cause but were intrigued enough to help with their plan.

A half-hour in, they had found nothing, and Andromeda was tempted to think that her sister had sent the letter on a lark to tease them but that did not explain why they hadn't received any other letters yet about Sirius.

She had just begun an article about an amateur ten-pin bowling tournament in Hogsmeade when she heard Ramona squeak.

"Merlin's pants!"

Andromeda looked up. Ramona hardly ever used any sort of harsh language.

"I've found it," Her voice was higher than usual. Moira had turned around to look over her shoulder.

"Fuck!"

"What is it?" Cissy was the first one off the sofa, snatching the paper out of Ramona's hand. Andromeda jumped up, crowding next to Cissy to see.

"It's nothing bad!" Ramona said in a rush.

She had been reading the Announcements. _Births, Marriages, Deaths_ titled the page. Realisation dawned on Andromeda, like the slow cold cascade of a Disillusionment Charm.

Right there, the first under _Forthcoming Marriages_ read:

**MR R.O. LESTRANGE and MISS B.C. BLACK**  
The engagement is announced between Rodolphus, eldest son of Mr and Mrs Gaius Lestrange of Bawlby Manor, Bawlby, Norfolk, and Bellatrix, eldest daughter of Mr and Mrs Cygnus Black, of Starly Cottage, Dorset.

"Married! She's getting married?" Andromeda shrieked incredulously.

"Did you know she was seeing—" Cissy squeaked.

"No, no, I had no idea! I don't think she's ever even mentioned him!" Andromeda shook her head.

"That horrid bitch!" Cissy screeched. She was grinning ear-to-ear. Andromeda realised she was too. "Does anyone have Floo Powder? We've got to talk to her!"

"I bet Slughorn has some," Ramona suggested. The four other girls had crowded around them to get a look at the paper.

"Do you think he's left for breakfast yet?" Andromeda asked.

"You know he always sleeps in on the weekend," Moira said, "It's nearly 10. If you hurry, I bet you can catch him!"

Slughorn's office was just down the corridor. Cissy knocked vigorously at the door, and they waited for what felt like ages but was probably no more than a moment before Slughorn answered, wearing his emerald dressing gown over melon-coloured pyjamas.

"Narcissa, Andromeda, to what do I owe this pleasure so early in the morning?" He regarded them uncharitably with bleary eyes.

"We're so sorry if we woke you, sir, but we've just had some wonderful news," Cissy said sweetly, hiding the page of the Prophet she was still carrying behind her back, crumpling it up. "And you have to be one of the first to know." Andromeda looked at her sister in bewilderment. "Our sister, Bellatrix, is engaged to Rodolphus Lestrange."

Slughorn shrugged off some of his sleepiness listening, Cissy's flattery was working.

"Oh, how wonderful!" Slughorn smiled. "When is the wedding?"

"Well, we aren't sure, sir. Bella seems to have left that out of her letter. We were wondering, actually, if we might use your fire to give her a call? We have so many questions!"

"I don't usually let students use my fire, but I will allow it just this once. This is a special occasion." Slughorn said. "Perhaps later this afternoon?"

"Oh, but we were so hoping to call her right now," Cissy persisted. "We want to tell her how happy we are for her! I'm sure she would be happy to get your congratulations too. You were always Bella's favourite teacher."

Slughorn seemed to waver.

"Rodolphus's too," Andromeda added, though, she didn't know if Rodolphus Lestrange had even attended Hogwarts.

"Well, I suppose if you ladies don't take too long," Slughorn opened the doorway a bit wider.

"Of course not, sir."

They both thanked him and slipped right through. The fire was already burning, and Slughorn retrieved the small ornate mother-of-pearl box he kept his Floo powder in for them. Andromeda threw a pinch into the fire. Both Andromeda and Cissy thrust their heads into the resulting burst of green flames and said together "Bellatrix's Room, Starly Cottage."

They were both familiar with the discomfort of the Floo, which doubled with another person and were able to keep from knocking heads despite the sickening swirling feeling. When it stopped, they were staring out at Bella's bedroom with its floral papered walls and enormous oak four-poster, enshrouded in blue and green drapery and mountains of bedding. She was the only one of the sisters with a Floo connection in their bedroom, an allowance made by their father sometime after she graduated.

"Bella!" Cissy called.

The plush duvet was flung off the side of the bed.

"So you got the paper! Are you absolutely infuriated with me?" Bella cackled, sliding out of the unmade bed, and pulling on her silvery silk dressing gown. "Whose fire are you using?"

"Slughorn's," Andromeda said impatiently.

"That old mandrake! I'm glad I never have to see him again!" Bella said derisively, coming to sit in front of the fire. "Do you want to see the ring Rod gave me? Goblin-made. It belonged to his great aunt or great grandmother or something. I don't remember." She flashed the ring in front of them, two large emeralds bracketed clasping golden hands, with diamonds spiraling around them.

"Why didn't you tell us you were seeing him?" Cissy demanded. "When did this happen?"

"I wasn't, not really," Bella ran a hand through her messy hair. "Rod's been in love with me for ages. Asked me to marry him twice already. He asked me again last Sunday. I finally took pity on him. His father pulled some strings to get it in the paper so soon."

Andromeda did not know what to make of this. "And Mummy and Daddy agreed to this?" 

"Are you joking? Rod and I came to dinner on Wednesday night to tell them. Mummy had a fit. She thinks I'm too young, as if she wasn't already married at my age. And Daddy's upset Rod didn't come to ask him first. But what are they going to do about it?"

"They could've disowned you! They still could!" Cissy said. It was not unheard of in their family.

"They won't. Rod's family is nearly as old as ours, and they're much richer. Mummy's already coming around, and she'll convince Daddy. If not, I have my ways," Bella grinned. "We're planning for the first week in July. You'll both be bridesmaids, of course."

"Of course," Andromeda said, still unsure. Those diamonds on Bella's ring were meant to be the silver stars from a wedding ceremony. They were not just for show. They were part of the magic of the Marriage Vows, deep, ancient, and hard to break. It wasn't something to rush into.

"Yes," Cissy added. "But I'm not wearing anything in pastels. They look terrible on me."

"Really? Because I was thinking of a pastel pink," Bella said.

"You're not," Cissy said indignantly.

"Oh, yes, I saw it in Witch Weekly just the other day, pastel pink with a great big purple bow around the middle. What do you think, Drommy?"

Though she could not see Cissy's face, Andromeda knew she was pouting. She had always been so dramatic and always cried so easily. In childhood, Andromeda was often torn between placating Cissy and going along with Bella. But Teasing Cissy had always been the most alluring of illicit games.

"It sounds lovely," Andromeda said. "I think another matching bow for the hair would make it."

"But it would have to be just as big as the one at your waist. Otherwise, it would be unbalanced." Bella held her hands above her head in the shape of an outrageously large bow.

"Yes, I like that! But then you can't have small sleeves!" Andromeda laughed. Bella was smirking.

"I hate you both," Cissy huffed. This was one of their lighter taunts at her expense. "Are you asking anyone else?"

"I have to. I'm leaving most of it up to Mummy. I can already tell I'm not going to like the planning. I want it to all be over." Said Bella. "Then I can move to London. The Lestranges have a house. Rod lives there with his brother."

"They have a house in Norfolk too, don't they?" Asked Andromeda, remembering the engagement announcement.

"Yes, Rod gets it when his father dies. It's huge."

"Oh, you'll have a Manor House!" Cissy exclaimed.

"And house-elves," Bella added. "The Lestranges have a bloody herd of them. Thank God."

"You'll never have to lift a wand," Cissy sounded delighted.

She would undoubtedly need house-elves unless she had been privately practicing cleaning charms. The summer after Bella graduated from school, she had waged a campaign to move to London. Her tactic was making life hell for everyone else at Starly Cottage as much as she could. Daddy stayed resolute through many silent meals and twice as many that turned into screaming matches. It was only when Bella went room to room setting the curtains alight for a week, that he relented.

He made inquiries and found her a bedsitter in a pleasant street off of Diagon Alley, which Bella got to furnish and decorate however she chose. She moved in the last week of July. Mummy even took Andromeda and Cissy to visit the first week. Andromeda had fallen in love with the neat little room, with the shiny pots and pans hanging in the tiny kitchenette, with the way the light shone through the new white lace curtains, with the seafoam velvet loveseat the perfect size to curl up with a book. Bella did not seem to love it, as Andromeda did. She returned to Starly Cottage before September 1st, complaining of dirty laundry and cleaning charms and the woes of cooking. Daddy was triumphant, and Andromeda, privately, incensed that her oh, so independent sister would let a little thing like housework get in the way of her freedom.

Andromeda didn't really still hold it against her sister, but she doubted her father would go to all the trouble a second time, even if she could get herself to set fire to the curtains.

"Let's hope Mr Lestrange goes quickly," Bella said with a wicked grin.

"Bella!" Cissy cried.

"He's nearly a hundred, and he doesn't like me very much."

"I can't imagine why," Andromeda said sarcastically.

Bella rolled her eyes. "I don't want to talk about this anymore. Tell me about Sirius. Has he befriended any little Mudbloods yet?"

"Not as far as we know," Andromeda said brusquely, because discussing Sirius might lead to discussing Frank Longbottom. If there were things she did not want to talk about with Cissy, she wanted to tell Bella about them far less.

"At least that's something. Maybe he's still got his head on right." Bella said. "I thought I was going to have this year's biggest family scandal. Apparently not."

"You said Auntie Wally's taken to her bed over it?" Cissy said.

"Yes, and Daddy said she's had the healer come to see her, but she refuses to tell anyone about Sirius. We only found out about it because Uncle Orion wrote to Daddy asking for advice." Bella rolled her eyes. "I almost wrote to tell her I was engaged to a half-blood just to see if it would kill her!"

"Bella, you wouldn't!" Cissy shrieked with more outrage than she had when Bella called for Mr Lestrange's quick demise.

"I couldn't. The very thought made me sick to my stomach."

"Good, you don't want something like that getting around. Even if it's just a rumor." Cissy said.

Just then, Andromeda felt a hand tapping her shoulder back in Slughorn's office and she was almost thankful for it. She excused herself and pulled her head from the fire. Slughorn was looking down at her.

"Yes, professor?"

"Miss Black, I'm sorry for interrupting your conversation, truly, but I'd like to make it down to breakfast before they start serving lunch." He was straining to maintain his usual politeness.

Andromeda nodded dutifully. She stuck her head back in the fire.

"I told Lucius—" Cissy was saying when she returned. Bella hardly looked interested.

"What did Sluggy want?" Bella cut her off.

"To go to breakfast," Andromeda said.

Bella rolled her eyes. "He could stand to skip a meal or two."

But they said their goodbyes. Bella told them Mummy would write with more wedding details.

Slughorn was waiting, standing over them when they emerged. "How is your sister, ladies? Excited, I imagine?"

"Oh, yes, sir," Cissy's voice regained the artificial sweetness it had had before. Andromeda wondered if this is how she spoke to all of her teachers. It was not unlike the simpering tone she used with boys. "Bella was so grateful you let us call her. She said how much she misses you."

"I miss her too. She was always whip-smart in class." Slughorn smiled. He helped them both off of the floor and ushered them quickly out the door.

"I can't believe she didn't tell us sooner, but this is exciting, isn't it, Drommy?" Said Cissy, as they headed back to the common room. She had a grin on her face, that Andromeda couldn't match. 

"I suppose it is." Andromeda wasn't naive. She knew people got married for all sorts of reasons besides love. Yet, there was still something about the engagement, the way Bella talked about, or didn't want to talk about it, that didn't sit right with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to tinyporcelainehorses for britpicking!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long break. Maybe a global pandemic actually _isn't_ the best time to start writing a long project? 
> 
> As always, thank you for reading!

**Better Options**

The Owlery was usually empty around mid-morning, especially on days like this when it rained, and the large and glassless windows made it a wet and windy place. That was precisely why Andromeda had chosen now to don her cloak and take the long journey from the dungeons to the top of the West Tower. It seemed that she was not the only one hoping for privacy because, as she climbed the very last of the stone steps she saw, immediately recognizable by her shoulder-length blonde hair, Melinda McKinnon.

Of course, it was her, Andromeda thought, pausing on the stair. Perhaps the damn book had a curse on it, so that talk of Mr. McKinnon or Melinda herself manifested whenever it wasn’t read behind the privacy of the thick dark green curtains of Andromeda’s four-poster or squirreled away in her trunk. She could leave, like she had never been there.

But Melinda spun around, hair whipping in the wind around her startled face.

“Hello,” Andromeda waved as politely as she could, and continued up the stairs.

“Hi,” Melinda said dismissively, but visibly relaxed some, before turning back to her owl. The wind whistled, and the rain blew through the tower.

Andromeda found Aeolus perched on the same wall as the tawny school owl Melinda was attempting to use, forcing them into close proximity, alone in the large, chilly room. Still, they could just politely ignore each other, as they had been doing for the past six years. Melinda had never quite fit in with the other Slytherin girls before anything that happened with her family. Her dissenting opinions, and more so her eagerness to share them, had not made her many friends, though, despite that, she had been made prefect, and now Head Girl. At least, despite everything else you could say about Frank Longbottom, he was well-liked in his house.

Aeolus leaned his soft feathery head into Andromeda’s warm hand as she reached out carefully to pet him. He was a good bird to be so happy to see her when she had run him ragged this past month, to Dorset and to London and back ten times over. Now to Paris in such weather. She pulled the letter and book-shaped parcel, protected by an Impervius Charm from her robe pocket, and cast a glance toward Melinda, who was busy with a handful of envelopes. Aeolus lifted a leg.

“This is going to Uncle Alphard’s. I’m sure he’ll give you a treat when you get there.” She said quietly as she secured her mail. Melinda was silently doing the same to one of the school owls. Her envelope read Michael McKinnon, Azkaban. Andromeda looked away quickly, hurriedly took Aeolus onto her arm, and went to one of the windows. Raindrops spattered her face, and her hair, growing damp, blew around it. Aeolus spread his wings wide and took off. She did not wait to watch him grow smaller and disappear somewhere over the Forbidden Forest as she usually might, instead went hastily—so hastily she nearly slipped along the wet floor—to the stairs.

Melinda was Head Girl, but that had not kept people, including her own housemates, from taunting her with her father’s crimes. If they found out she was still speaking to him, Andromeda could just imagine the glint that would put in Ian Crabbe’s eye. She doubted any of them were particularly concerned with the morality of Mr McKinnon’s actions. Still, they weren’t above using it to torment his daughter, who had never hesitated to stand up for everything they hated. Andromeda felt terribly for her. She didn’t know what it was to be an outcast in Slytherin House, not precisely, but, well, you didn’t send owls during a rainstorm if you didn’t have things to hide.

A letter from Uncle Alphard was what Andromeda had been waiting for the last three weeks. She had not been short on mail from her family. The very next day after Bella’s engagement announcement, a letter from Mummy arrived. Despite whatever misgivings about the betrothal Bella had attributed to her, Andromeda could not find a hint of it among the discussion of guest lists and flowers and dress measurements. As Mummy was terrible at obfuscating her true feelings—even behind a mask of ink and parchment—Andromeda had to assume she had quickly come around. According to Mummy, Daddy still thought he’d been slighted. Still, a negligible disregard of etiquette was not enough reason to end a perfectly respectable arrangement. She was throwing herself into this, and Bella was right, once Mummy had decided on something, it rarely took Daddy long to give in. He could be disagreeable from time to time, but life was more comfortable when Mummy was happy.

Mummy’s letter had ended with only a dashed-off note about ‘poor troublesome Sirius’ and the state into which he’d sent Auntie Wally. She asked Andromeda and Narcissa to watch over him and shepherd him away from any improper influences.

It was some time that week that Auntie Wally seemed to summon the courage to tell everyone about Sirius’s fate—or, more likely, Uncle Orion scrounged enough of it to do it behind her back—because on Thursday there was a letter from Grandmother and Grandfather; Friday one arrived from Auntie Melania—who seldom wrote either sister, and by Monday another came from Uncle Orion’s somewhat enigmatic sister, Lucretia Prewett, who Andromeda knew better as the Prewett twins’ step-mother than as her own cousin. Each letter began pleasantly, inquiring about how the sisters were settling in, moved on to discussing the unexpected, but delightful news about Bella, before reaching their target, Sirius. What exactly had happened during the sorting? Was Sirius alright? Was he devastated? How was he adjusting? Had he befriended anyone in Gryffindor? Of what sort were they?

Neither Andromeda nor Narcissa was quite sure how to answer these questions. How much were they meant to say? How much would send Auntie Wally into a rage and start some sort of feud? They weren’t sure what kind of state she was in at the moment. Their replies were amiable but short. Unfortunately, this only brought more owls and more questions, none of them the one Andromeda was hoping would come. She was already thinking of writing to him first herself, when on the last Friday of the month, a new owl swooped down over breakfast, carrying a small parcel and a letter bearing only Andromeda’s name. She knew what it was at once and excused herself from the table, dashing off to her dormitory, before anyone could ask what she’d received.

In the safety of her room, Andromeda tore open the letter.

_My Dearest Andromeda,_

_I know this letter is a bit later than expected. I must beg your forgiveness. While our correspondence may be my favourite writing exercise, it is sadly not the one paying my bills. I am in Paris at the moment, but I am au courant with the latest family drama. I know you are likely swimming in letters as am I. Both Sirius and your sister know how to cause a stir, don’t they? I haven’t been getting the Prophet lately. I did not hear about Bella’s engagement until your father wrote to me. Is it really as unexpected as it seems? The Lestranges are a fine family. I’m sure that will please my brother, eventually, even if he’s putting up a fight about it now. Still, I suppose half the fun of having daughters is getting upset over their choice of husband. As for Sirius, I hadn’t expected Gryffindor, but he’s always been a little Leonine, don’t you think? To say Walburga’s not taking it well would be an understatement. Both of my siblings are quite pleasant, aren’t they? Your mother and Orion are indeed saints, but I imagine my own marriage would have been quite the same. My greatest gift, or perhaps my worst curse, to witchkind._

_You will have seen that I have sent along the next book you requested from me, and you can return the last you borrowed whenever you are finished with it. I hope you have enjoyed it and I look forward to hearing your opinions. However, I thought that instead of sending you my copy of Wands Against Wizards, I might send you an advanced copy of my own novel. What do you think? Of course, it is fiction, but it is very unlike any of the stories I wrote for you and your sisters when you were small or even any of my other published works. It is much more of a piece with the books you are currently reading. I would like to know your thoughts on it before the public (and the rest of the family) gets their hands on it._

_Yours,_

_Uncle Alphard_

It was short, but it was what Andromeda had expected, very Uncle Alph, and didn’t pry for something that she wasn’t willing to give. She wrote her reply hurriedly before she had to leave for Potions, telling him her misgivings about Bella’s plans and her annoyance with Sirius and her deal with Frank Longbottom (which was proving quite convenient even if she still hated it). She told him about her thoughts on the book he had given her, which she’d finished a week before, and said yes, of course, to a copy of his book. He wanted to share his own thoughts with her. She was filled with pride that Uncle Alph would trust her opinion.

The letter and the book she had to return lay tucked in her trunk for nearly a week until she felt the weather was just bad enough to venture to the Owlery.

Hadn’t it just been her luck to find Melinda there? Andromeda’s thoughts were on her even after she returned to the dungeons, shed her damp cloak, and dried her hair. They remained even as she settled in the common room to work on her History of Magic essay.

What would she do if it were her father?

Something like this would never happen to her father. Something like this would never happen to the Blacks, not because any of them had any unusually warm feelings toward squibs—they had no squibs in their family besides—but because no one would ever put a Black in Azkaban. Uncle Arcturus would never allow it.

Before the summer, Andromeda hadn’t given much thought to squibs though she maybe should have. They were as rare among wizards as Muggle-borns were among muggles, and there were far fewer wizards than there were muggles. The major movement for squib rights had reached a head years ago — protesters and counterprotesters crowded the streets of Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley for months, speeches filled the pages of the Daily Prophet, and the topic dominated conversations at family gatherings. The simmering conflict was the ever-present background of most of Andromeda’s school years. She had known that the McKinnons had a squib in the family, though many Slytherins would never mention something like that, especially given the politics of the time. Melinda’s uncle—she thought it might have been her uncle — seemed to be close with and well-loved by her family until the inevitable.

_Your Brothers and Your Sisters_ , the book Uncle Alph had given her, painted a bleak picture for squibs. Some wizards abandoned their squib children when they were found to be without magic. To be left without family was a cruel fate in the muggle world, whether you were a squib or merely an unfortunate muggle orphan. Andromeda could not imagine, at the age of nine or ten, suddenly being without her family. She didn’t know how she’d get on if now, thrust into the muggle world without her wand, without her parents, and she was nearly eighteen. Nearly as cruel were the parents who held their squib children tighter to them, keeping them from muggle world, from muggle schools and jobs, keeping them trapped in a world that perceived their lack of magic as an insurmountable limitation. Andromeda had seen this first hand with the son of the Herbology teacher, Professor Filch. He must have been a few years older than Andromeda, because he was already a sullen teen stalking corridors when she was eleven, making himself the bane of the first years, with his game of jumping out and scaring them, promising to tattle on them for something, anything, he thought he could. He was still doing the same thing nearly a decade later, though officially he had a job, assistant to the terrible old caretaker, Mr. Pringle. But now, seeing his situation for what it was, it was easy to feel bad for him. Andromeda would be resentful too if she had been forced to live alongside children destined to outgrow and outpace her, only for more to take their place every year. It was a frozen existence, haunting the halls, treated no better than that wailing prepubescent ghost in the girl’s bathroom.

Abandonment or stagnation couldn’t be the only options. They just weren’t acceptable. Euphemera O’Brien, the author of the book, didn’t think they were either. She had real ideas about laws to change, programs to implement, schools to create. They were ideas that set Andromeda’s teeth on edge and made her stomach twist, in a way none of her philosophical arguments had. How would they ever get the Ministry to do those things? What would be the cost? It reminded her of the protests that had more than once turned into riots and terrorized Hogsmeade. More than one weekend had been canceled on account of them.

“Andromeda!” She was pulled from her thoughts, back to the table in the common room with her untouched essay in front of her, ink dripping from her quill onto the few words she had written. Not only did she not have anything done, she was going to have to start all over.

Moira had been the one to call her name, and was now hurrying over with Ramona trailing after. The look on Moira’s face was nothing less than jubilant.

“What?” Andromeda asked, bemused.

“You’ll never guess what happened!”

“Probably not. You could just tell me.”

Moira was too excited to force her to guess, as she usually might in return for a less than enthusiastic tone.

“They just announced the first Hogsmeade weekend! October 30th! And Ian’s asked me to go with him!” She squealed.

“Oh my! How exciting!” Andromeda forced a smile. Moira had fancied Ian Crabbe since at least fourth year. He felt the same way about her at least half that time. Though they’d probably been snogging in cupboards for years, neither of them had been officially unattaclhed long enough to do anything as serious as to go on a date. Crabbe had a string of girlfriends over the years but had been single since May. Moira had dated their housemate, Lionel Bletchley, on-and-off since fifth year, only to end it for good, rather abruptly, last June.

“I know, right? Merlin, I’m going to need to order new curlers and maybe even a whole new set of robes. You can both help me pick them.” Moira mused. Ramona didn’t look half as excited. She stood behind Moira, fidgeting idly with the purple ribbon tying off the end of her plait. “I have the catalogue in my room. I’ll be right back!”

Moira hurried off.

“She’s going to come down with a list of baby names too, I think,” Andromeda said.

“It’s always been Vincent for a boy and Evelyn for a girl.” Ramona took the seat opposite. Andromeda smirked. If it were anyone but Ramona, she’d say the tone was almost spiteful, but there was something else to it she couldn’t quite place.

“Vincent Crabbe sounds very nice.”

“Better than Vincent Bletchley,” Ramona smiled. “At least, that’s what Mrs. Goyle would say.”

“Why settle when there are better options around?” Andromeda said in her best impression of Moira’s mother, though she probably sounded more like her own. If anyone asked, Lionel Bletchley would call himself a pureblood, but having the barest claim to that status and being a nice young man, did not entitle you to daughters from some of societies’ best families. No, you needed something substantial like Bella’s Rodolphus Lestrange had. Moira was lucky her own taste and her parent’s expectations ran in the same direction. 

Ramona hummed in agreement, playing with her ribbon again. “They put a sign-up sheet for meetings with Slughorn too. To talk about Post-graduation plans. How is it that I have plans for next year when I don’t have any for the end of the month?”

“It was just announced today. Someone will ask you to go too. Maybe Lucius will so you could double with Moira and Ian.” As she didn’t have plans for next year or the next Hogsmeade trip, Andromeda sympathized, even if what she proposed sounded unappealing. Ramona had a higher tolerance for Malfoy and Crabbe, and, truthfully, even Moira.

She shook her head. “Even if I wanted to go with him, I wouldn’t bet my broomstick on him asking me.”

“Why not?”

“Better options,” she smiled, and Andromeda frowned.

Before she could reply, Moira returned. The three of them spent the rest of the morning, as none of them had any classes until the afternoon, discussing what robes Moira should purchase, Andromeda’s ruined essay long forgotten, until it came down to a mauve set with a ruffle along the hem and paisley ones with bell sleeves, which they debated over all of lunch. In the end, she decided to order them both. Moira said it was just to try them on, but Andromeda doubted either set would be going back. It was not nearly enough to drive squibs from her mind, and every time she spotted Melinda McKinnon, her stomach did a guilty, uncomfortable flip.

* * *

It was still pouring down two days later, plaguing Care of Magic Creatures and Herbology classes and the first year flying lessons nearly as much as Andromeda was plagued by her run-in in the Owlery. Her History of Magic essay was still undone, and she was headed to the library to attempt to rectify that. She had run into Gwen Fawley that morning. Andromeda was on her way to Divination, and Gwen seemed to be taking the long way round to Transfiguration. On their walk, Gwen invited her to the library to revise that afternoon. She was quite insistent about it, mentioning Ted was coming more than once, which made Andromeda just a little self-conscious.

Walking to class with Gwen had felt like fifth year again when they would make the long walk up the North Tower together. They met in Divination in third year when Professor Mackenberg had decided that Gwen and Faith Burbage were far too chatty for her liking and separated them. In their new seats, Faith and Yvonne Crespo hardly made a peep the rest of the year, but Mackenberg had underestimated Gwen’s bottled sunshine disposition. 

Gwen had ditched Divination after O.W.L.s, and as she had recently dropped Potions, the only other class they shared, they didn’t see each other much.

The weather had pushed students who might usually have passed the afternoon out on the grounds into the castle. The library was crowded, with most of the tables near the entrance full, though Ted or Gwen didn’t seem to be at any of them. She did see Lucius Malfoy at the head of a table pontificating to a group of what must have been Slytherin first years. She wanted to blend into a passing bunch of Ravenclaw third years, but it was too late. Lucius had met her eye before she got the chance. He excused himself from the first years and was on her like a cat on a mouse.

“Andromeda! How serendipitous! I’d meant to talk to you! Are you staying long? I was just helping some firsties with their Potions work—Slughorn asked it of me, and of course, I couldn’t say no—my duty as a Slug Club member, but I’ve got Charms to work on. I’m sure we could find a corner off to ourselves somewhere...”

“Well, I promised Gwen I’d revise with her.” Andromeda said quickly. “And she always studies with the Hufflepuffs and Frank... so unless you wanted to spend your evening with them...”

“You want to?” Lucius’s smile just barely twitched, and he ran a hand through his platinum hair. “I heard that Frank and that Ravenclaw girl of his are fighting. You wouldn’t happen to know what about?” He was trying to sound offhand about it, pretending like he doesn’t know Sonia’s name, though he must have.

“I hadn’t even heard about it.” It was the truth. She didn’t care much either, though Potions would be unbearable tomorrow if he was right. “How much time do you think I spend with Frank’s friends?”

“I’m far more concerned with how much time you’re spending with him.” He said, and Andromeda somehow refrained from rolling her eyes.

“Not enough to concern Sonia, much less you.” That brought new life to Lucius’s smile, and it made Andromeda wary. “I’ve really got to go. Gwen is waiting for me. Have fun with the firsties. I’ll see you later.”

She hurried away with a half-hearted wave.

Gwen, Ted, and Mary Lazarus were at a table in the back of the library, sandwiched between rows of biographies. Ted looked up as she came down the aisle and greeted her with a warm smile.

“There you are! I told you she was coming, Ted! We saved you a seat!!” Gwen said, pulling the bag off the seat beside her, right across from Ted. There was a box of Bertie Bott’s in front of him and he offered her one. She took a pink one that turned out to be candy floss.

They did get to work, or at least made a good show of trying. There were books and parchment strewn about the table, and Ted had a large pile in front of him, though only Mary was making much progress. Andromeda’s essay wasn’t any further along than it had been when she arrived. Gwen and Ted had started a game with Bertie Bott’s beans to see who could eat the most without having a reaction to the disgusting ones. At least those were the stated rules, but they all knew the real aim was getting Mary to shush them by having the loudest, most exaggerated reactions. It was a favorite of Frank’s. Though not officially playing, Andromeda had earned a few “shhh” points for laughing at them.

At one point, Ted had eaten a garishly blue bean that made him cough and sputter and Mary slammed her hand on her book, making more noise than he had, and glared at him.

“Dish soap,” He rasped in apology and, as soon as Mary rolled her eyes at him and returned to her book, winked at Andromeda. It was silly, but she couldn’t help but grin.

She was rarely this close to alone with Ted. Hufflepuffs hung tightly together, and Gwen and Ted especially had a wide circle of friends. Most of the people Andromeda knew outside of her own house, she had met through them. She would have expected Des (as he might as well have had a Sticking Charm on Mary for the amount of times Andromeda had seen them apart) and Frank, if not Sonia, if they were really fighting.

Andromeda didn’t really think to ask about it, but it seemed Mary did. Andromeda was halfway through a new paragraph, and Gwen was seeing how high she could wordlessly levitate a handful of jelly beans at once when Mary leaned forward on her book and whispered across the table, “Oh, Gwen, did you hear what happened with Frank and Sonia?”

“They’re just having a row,” Gwen said dismissively, lowering her wand and letting the beans rattle on the table. Ted had looked up from his book as well.

Mary pursed her lips and pressed on. “That’s what I thought, and it’s not that it matters, but it’s just that Des heard from Gordon that Simon was saying some very unkind things about Frank during Quidditch practice—”

“Speaking of Quidditch, what time is it?” Gwen asked. Mary blinked in surprise and looked at her watch.

“Quarter past five.”

“Right, I should leave soon for practice.” She shut the book that she had barely given a glance and started packing her bag.

“Quidditch? It’s coming down in sheets down out there,” Andromeda said.

“That doesn’t stop Quidditch.”

“You are the captain. You are one of the few people who can cancel practice,” Ted said facetiously.

“Do you want Hufflepuff to lose, Ted?” Gwen wasn’t as teasing as he had been. Quidditch was the only thing that got her half riled up.

“All I’m saying is that we don’t play until the end of November. If I were you, I’d let Crabbe and Gideon Prewett get struck by lightning.” Ted teased. Ian would let half the team get electrocuted if it meant beating Gryffindor, though Andromeda didn’t think Gideon Prewett felt differently about Slytherin.

Gwen ignored him and looked to Mary. “Will you walk me back to the Common Room?”

Mary looked at her, quizzically. “I’m not done with this chapter.”

“Come on, we’ll have a good chat,” Gwen’s voice was anything but innocent as she looked between Andromeda and Ted. “And I’m sure the two of you will find something to talk about once we’re gone.”

Mary agreed to go with her, and Andromeda knew what the topic of their chat was going to be, but she preferred Sonia and Frank being the ones gossiped about. While Gwen and Mary packed up, Ted looked at Andromeda, pink-cheeked and apologetic. He looked like she felt.

“I’m sorry about leaving! l’ll stop by at dinner, Dromeda! See you later!” Gwen said as she hastily slung her bag over her shoulder and tugged Mary after her down the aisle. They very nearly trampled another student who had sat on the floor against a shelf with a book. Gwen apologized, but the dour-looking boy, who had to be a first year as he was quite small and still unfamiliar looking, barely noticed what happened. As quickly, as that, they disappeared around the corner.

If Andromeda had felt like she was alone with Ted before, well, it was just the two of them and the worlds-away boy. The air seemed to take on a new heavy feeling. Ted was only across the table, but the distance between them seemed too small and far too great.

“What are you working on?” Ted asked with a grin, braving the distance between them.

“History of Magic essay. I’ve had it for a week, but I’ve only gotten this far.”

“Something else on your mind?”

“Squibs,” She admitted, surprising herself by how easy it felt to confide in him.

“Squibs?”

“Squibs— and Moira’s wardrobe— but mostly squibs,” Andromeda nodded. She looked down the aisle to the boy, who had practically pressed his nose into his book and lowered her voice. “I er— I saw Melinda McKinnon sending a letter to her father in Azkaban. I keep thinking about how I would feel if it were my dad. I feel horrible for her. She never had many friends in Slytherin, but now it’s worse.”

Andromeda wasn’t a gossip, not usually, and she didn’t want Ted to think she was one now, but somehow it felt safe to tell him her feelings.

“I’d like to stand up for her like how you did on the train, but...”

“That wasn’t anything.” Ted shook his head. “Mary and Des aren’t as bad as Slyth—some can be. They were just stupid. I just don’t think Melinda should be judged because of her parents. I don’t think anyone should be. We should give everyone a chance to work life out for themselves.”

“But your parents aren’t anything to be ashamed of just because, you know...”

Ted looked surprised. Maybe he wasn’t talking about himself and bringing them up in the first place, didn’t that just prove that they might be? Her cheeks flushed. He didn’t say anything, just looked at her, strangely like he was trying to decide whether she was lying. She didn’t want to decide right then whether she was or not.

“What about you? What are you working on?”

It took Ted a moment.

“Potions. You haven’t forgotten any homework. Don’t fret. I’m helping tutor the first year Hufflepuffs, so I’m brushing up.”

“I did hear Slughorn was asking people.” She said, trying not to roll her eyes at the very thought of Lucius.

“I think I was fairly far down the list. He asked Merilda, but she’s busy with Gobstones Club, so she told me about it, and Slughorn didn’t say no.”

“Who wants to be one of Slughorn’s pets, anyway?”

“Who wants to be Lucius Malfoy, you mean?” Ted smirked, like he had read Andromeda’s mind. “Not me, until I need a letter from him to apply to St. Mungo’s Healer’s program.”

“You’re going to be a healer?” Andromeda was intrigued. He would make a very good healer.

“That’s the plan,” Ted said. “What about you?”

“For next year? I haven’t really thought about it.” She didn’t want to think about it. Beyond Bella’s failed summer living in London, her sister’s model seemed unappealing. Fall in with a crowd her father disapproved of and then fall into a marriage?

“Maybe you have the right of it... ‘best laid plans,’ as they say.”

She had never heard anyone say that. A muggle saying then.

“They expect us to have plans for next year when I haven’t even got plans for the trip to Hogsmeade.”

“You haven’t?”

“Not yet, no.” Most of the time, she went with Moira and Ramona, or occasionally, Yvonne and Emily. Sometimes Cissy, and back in fifth year she had dated Ywain Proudfoot just long enough to spend a Valentine’s Day weekend together at Madam Puddifoot’s. “I’ll probably go with my friends. I usually do.”

“Me too,” Ted nodded slowly. “We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“We are,” She said. 

“Do you want to go then?” She wanted to beg him not to ask this of her, like his eyes were begging her to say yes, and how she wanted to. It felt like she was landing a terrible blow, not just to Ted but herself too. Then he added, “As friends?”

“Of course. As friends.” 

A small smile slowly crept up on Ted’s face. “We’ll get a group for the Three Broomsticks. Gwen, Mary, Des, Frank, and Sonia, if they’re speaking by then. Ramona and Moira, if you want. If you think they’d want to.”

“I’ll ask.” She returned the smile.

* * *

She could have said no outright. 

Though she hadn’t given another thought to Melinda, her mind was even more preoccupied when she returned to her essay. She kept looking at Ted across the table, or she would catch him looking at her, with that same little smile on his face. It was maddening. She wanted to thank him or kiss him or apologize, so she’d let uncertainty carry her down to the dungeons.

He could have taken it badly, but he didn’t. It was like he understood, and Andromeda loved him for that alone.

She had been ignoring this feeling for Ted for so long, telling herself that the tightness in her chest, the fluttering in her stomach around him, was nothing more than fondness. Fondness was safer than fancying him. She knew what her parents would say but she knew she could never stay just friends with Ted, even if he could. She wanted to run back up to the library and tell Ted all of this. She wanted to never speak to him again. Both prospects seemed grim. 

Before she had even crossed the threshold to the common room, Lucius Malfoy was standing by the door; the last person she wanted to see, except Ted.

“Andromeda, there you are,” Lucius grinned at the sight of her and turned to a boy beside him, the dour-looking first year Andromeda had seen sitting on the floor in the library. “You can run along to dinner, Severus. We’ll speak more about it later. Thank you.”

The boy hurried out without a word as Andromeda entered properly.

“How was your time in the library? Productive, I hope.”

“Fairly.” She lied.

“That’s good.” Lucius said. “May I ask you a question, Andromeda?”

“Didn’t you just?” She said dully, but it didn’t seem to affect him.

“I have been thinking about the Hogsmeade trip next month. I’m sure you know Moira and Ian are going together.” He explained. “And I thought we could make it a double date?”

“You and I?” 

How had she gotten so popular suddenly? Ted was one thing, but Lucius Malfoy was another entirely.

“Yes, of course,” Lucius took a step closer to her so that he was looking down his nose at her, and she had to look up to meet his eyes.

“Well, you see, I already made plans...”

“Plans? With who?”

“It’s not a date,” She said. It wasn’t a lie. “I’m going with friends. You could ask Ramona. She hasn’t got a date yet.”

“If I wanted to go with Ramona, I would have asked her. I like you, Andromeda, very much...” Lucius Malfoy could say that to her, so easily and even if she didn’t return the feeling... It was so easy... He had everything Ted didn’t. He was the sort that her father would like. Her mother wouldn’t even blink if Andromeda invited him to dinner. “What do you say?”

“Okay.”

She let Malfoy walk her to dinner, though she didn’t sit with him, instead, going to join Narcissa and her friends, if only because they were as far away from the Slytherin seventh years as she could get without sitting by herself or joining another table. Sitting with her sisters’ friends, though, gave her a reason not to talk much.

Cissy’s presence, more than Lucius’s, would assure her she’d made the right choice. She loved her sister, who liked Lucius, for whatever reason. Cissy would be ecstatic to find out Andromeda was going on a date with him... She didn’t want to think what she’d say if she knew about Ted.

There was the problem of telling Ted, of course, but Andromeda didn’t want to think about that right now. She just wanted to eat her dinner and sit with her sister. She would find some way to tell him. He would understand, surely.

Halfway through the meal, Gwen appeared at the Slytherin table, soaking wet and still in her muddy practice robes.

“Hello!” She sat down opposite Andromeda, Cissy, and some of her friends giving her a disgusted look that went unnoticed or unremarked upon. So much had happened since the library, she had forgotten that Gwen said she’d join her at dinner.

“How was practice?” Andromeda asked.

“Alright.” Gwen gave a noncommittal shrug. “How was revising?” The way she said it, she wasn’t merely talking about Andromeda’s essay. Gwen had been the one who invited her to the library in the first place. There had been a plan and everything, then.

“Alright.”

“Just alright?”

Andromeda nodded, guiltily, then looked down at her nearly empty plate. She wanted to ask Gwen if they could speak about it later, but Cissy was sitting right there, listening. _Out with it._ “I got some work done on my essay, and then I went back to the common room. I bumped into Lucius. He asked me to go to Hogsmeade with him.”

Then came the shocked, “And did you say yes?” It wasn’t Gwen who said it though, but Cissy was looking at her with something Andromeda couldn’t quite parse. Gwen looked disappointed.

Andromeda nodded. They were all quiet for a moment. 

Eventually, Cissy said, “Oh, that’s wonderful.”

“That’s really great!” Gwen forced a smile. “You know, I should probably head over to my own table and eat.” 

Andromeda could just watch. She got up and walked over toward the Hufflepuffs, taking a seat between Mary and Faith Burbage. Ted was across from her. She leaned across the table to say something to him. He nodded, and for half a second, looked in Andromeda’s direction.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Come talk to me on [ tumblr!](gobnaits.tumblr.com)
> 
> _This story is part of the Fic Journal of the Plague Year project, a collection of stories written during the coronavirus pandemic that include an endnote contextualizing the story in the author's experience of the pandemic._
> 
> This is fundamentally a story about sisters. And it was through spending time with my own sisters under quarantine that I was inspired to write this finally. While our relationships are worlds away from the way Blacks sisters turn out, I hope to capture something about the nature of sisterhood in this work.


End file.
